The Core Leeds: Plans to demolish Headrow shopping centre and build new students flats given early thumbs up

Developers want to knock down The Core Shopping Centre, which stands on The Headrow in the heart of Leeds, but is “underused”, according to planning officers. Under the early suggested proposals, three new buildings would be put up in its place, with retail units at the bottom and 809 student flats above.

Two new streets linking Lands Lane with King Charles Street would also be created. No planning application has been submitted yet and so no decision has been reached on whether or not the scheme will go ahead.

But images showing how the results of the project may look were aired publicly for the first time on Thursday at a city plans panel meeting at Civic Hall. Members of the panel broadly welcomed the development, with several suggesting it would revitalise the space.

Councillor Peter Carlill said: “Overall I think it’s a really positive development to what is in effect a shopping centre that isn’t very well used, as far as I believe. I think I’ve had to go in there once in the last five years for a particular shop, when suddenly I remembered it (The Core) was there.

“It must be 10 or 15 years since that was the main shopping centre when you went in for HMV and all the other bits, but that’s all gone now. I think it’s a really good re-use of the space.”

Councillors were split on provisional designs for the new building, which developers have suggested would be red brick. But panel chair Councillor Jim McKenna expressed dislike for the idea.

He told developers: “There are other, better quality materials you can use. You want this to be a prestigious and successful centre, as we all do round this table. But to emulate something like (red brick), in my book is not doing it justice. You can do a lot better than this.”

However, others said it was to their liking, with Councillor Al Garthwaite saying she felt the design was “elegant”. Despite refurbishments in 2009 and 2014, The Core’s heyday as a buzzing draw for shoppers appears to have passed, with only a third of the centre now occupied.

It was previously known as The Headrow Centre. Firm proposals will come back to the panel for discussion, once a planning application is submitted at a later date. The plans have sparked a debate among Yorkshire Evening Post readers, with many complaining that that the city centre is being taken over by student flats.